1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ice tray placed, for example, in a freezing compartment of an refrigerator and making ice by cooling the water poured therein, it also relates to an ice making machine and a refrigerator both using the same ice tray.
2. Background Art
A conventional ice tray placed in a freezing compartment of a refrigerator is disclosed, e.g. Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2001-272146, and the entire ice tray is made from aluminum. This conventional ice tray is described hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13. FIG. 12 shows a perspective view of the conventional ice tray, and FIG. 13 shows a sectional view taken along line 13—13 shown in FIG. 12.
Ice tray 1 (hereinafter referred to simply as “tray”) is made from aluminum alloy excellent in heat conductivity. Tray 1 includes plural cells 2 which temporarily retain water. Groove 3 rests between cells 2 adjacent to each other and communicates with those cells 2. As shown in FIG. 13, heaters 4 are rigidly mounted to underside of tray 1 solidly with screws or by claming.
An operation of tray 1 discussed above is described hereinafter. When water is poured into tray 1, the water runs via grooves 3 over the entire tray 1 and every cell 2 is filled with the water. On cell 2 can contain water of approx. 15 ml, so that tray 1 formed of 7 cells 2 can contain water of approx. 105 ml.
The water poured in tray 1 dissipates heat due to heat conduction through the water surface, the walls of tray 1 and heat radiant, and lowers its temperature gradually, then it finally freezes into ice. Supply of power to heater 4 melts an ice face touching tray 1, then the ice in tray 1 can be evacuated by discharging claws (not shown).
However, in the foregoing conventional structure, since heater 4 is rigidly mounted to tray 1 solidly with screws or by clamping, application of heat disperses depending on a location of cells 2. Thus cell 2 not heated enough cannot evacuate ice smoothly.